Montenegrin nationality law

Afghan evacuees arrive at Pristina airport in Kosovo in August. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

A total of 100,000 euros will be allocated after Montenegro pledged financial support during a UN meeting on September 13.

A controversial scheme selling Montenegrin citizenship to wealthy foreign investors is being canceled after the European Union warned that it could foster corruption and harm the country's progress towards membership of the bloc.

Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazovic said that he expected that relations between Belgrade and Podgorica would improve after Serbia helped Montenegro with vaccines, but such scenario did not happen due to some political events in Montenegro that caused much more attention in Serbia, for no good reason.

Protesters from self-proclaimed patriotic organisations in Podgorica, Montenegro. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic

The proposed law would give people with permanent residence permits the right to vote and apply for citizenship. But protesters waving Montenegrin flags and chanting slogans against the new government accused the government of betraying national interests.

The new Montenegrin government has promised to bring change for thousands of mostly Serb residents who want to become citizens but cannot because the country's strict legislation means they would have to give up their original citizenship.

Serbia's Justice Ministry told BIRN it has no obligation to reveal information about the requested extradition of former Montenegrin official Svetozar Marovic, or about its activities on this matter.

Speaking from Belgrade, where he found safe haven despite repeated demands from Montenegro for his extradition, 65-year-old Marovic, once a key ally of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, said that his family had been "brought to the brink" of financial collapse by the scandal that enveloped him in 2015 when he was arrested on corruption charges.

Montenegro's government plans to offer citizenship to foreign investors who are willing to invest money in the undeveloped north of the country, media reported on Tuesday.

The Tourism Ministry is preparing an "economic citizenship" package designed for foreign investors but has not specified a date when the scheme will begin.